Puffiest 'Puffy' jacket of all time launched this week by Patagonia

A critical question is “What is the down source?”
Is it live plucked, foie gras geese? Recycled synthetics?

“it’s no rain coat”….totally lame review! A jacket this expensive you should at least try it out under its intended usage. Nobody wears just a tshirt and a giant down jacket while working or playing in temperatures that would require such a jacket…poor journalism and a worthless review

Jason, this is not a “review” per se. We had an early-release version of the jacket in hand for a total of about 48 hours this winter for a quick look/test then had to ship it back to the company. We put it through some paces, and it performed as it was advertised. But we certainly did not do a full review. Watch for a thorough review later this year.

Not trying to split hairs here, but the article says, “You can read all the results from the big test on the Outside article here. But, in brief, most of Patagonia’s big claims came true when we pushed this parka to limits in the cold.”….so was it a quick look as you replied, or a big test that pushed the product to the limit as the article states?

I have definitely seen puffier jackets.

No worries, Jason. I was addressing the soaking of the jacket arm part, detailed in the Outside article, as the “limits pushed.” Soaked it under a faucet to test the water repellant down and went outside in the cold to see what would happen. Just a quick part of the test. But the down reacted positively (re-puffing up as it dried). Again, this article was meant to introduce a product and offer some first impressions, not yet recommend it for Gasherbrum II.

No doubt this is a great jacket but the price is rather stomach churning. I do not care for the marketing. I see no reason why they have to invent jargon for techniques that have been used in the construction of box wall baffle jackets for years. The water restance is a good thing but who takes a down jacket out in the serious wet? It would be too warm! I’ll stick with PHD. 900 EU fill customization and very reasonably priced.

No doubt this is designed for the “pro” crowd ($600+ for a jacket is indeed pretty stiff), but innovation never hurt anybody. Especially when more-affordable trickle-down products reach us regular types. When it comes to gear, lighter is almost always better. Interesting piece.

Awesome! I can’t wait to see something like this in the real world. Hopefully, the price comes down from exum/expedition-level-prices.

On another note, I would assume most of the readers understood the point of this article and they, like me, are excited to see a preview of this. Or, put another way, I don’t think the non-trolls of the internet would call this article lame.

Update: the down is not sourced from force-fed or live-plucked geese. What a relief.